All her life she had wanted to squeeze the toothpaste really squeeze it,not just one little squirt. [...] The paste coiled and swirled and mounded in the washbasin. Ramona decorated the mound with toothpaste roses as if it was a toothpaste birthday cake

I grew up before there were strict leash laws.

Didn't the people who made those license plates care about little girls named Ramona?

What interests me is what children go through while growing up.

I just wrote about childhood as I had known it.

I read my books aloud before they were published.

He was dressed as if everything he wore had come from different stores or from a rummage sale, except that the crease in his trousers was sharp and his shoes were shined.